


without are dogs and murderers

by haeresitic



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Punisher (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 06:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haeresitic/pseuds/haeresitic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The criminal underworld learns that Rachel Alves (she took her husband's name) isn't just an angry girl playing dress-up as Punisher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	without are dogs and murderers

**Author's Note:**

> (whispers marvel can rachel please come back now?)

We got her message. We found Johnny--well, it would be hard to miss him really, since he was hanging upside-down in our usual meeting place--and her message was on him. It wasn’t carved on his belly or something like that--he was fully clothed, his limbs were there, and he had all his teeth, fingers, toes and balls on him. Her message was dripping off him onto our meeting table. It wasn’t blood--it was white, white spray paint, and it was still wet--a giant skull, starting from his body with its jaw on his face. It looked like it was engulfing him. That wasn’t all of her message--she’d have wanted us to see the frozen horror in Johnny’s wide open eyes. Johnny was the envelope and fear was the anthrax.

I know I’m not the bravest in the family, but I know I’m not the stupidest. I’d heard of the Punisher from cousins and friends in New York. Dude protects his brand fiercely; he takes down copycats as mercilessly as he does the families. If this chick can go around for months now picking us out one by one she must be doing so with his blessing. And I really don’t wanna know what it takes to impress him, man.

So my uncle started laughing. He tried to cover the trembling of his knees with his laughter, as if anyone can laugh so hard at the face of death that he’d start shaking violently to the point of leaning against the table for support. He said something like, “This isn’t the Punisher! This little bitch is just playing dress-up. If it was Castle, Johnny would be missing things. The skull would be red, with blood, not some fucking paint from Hobby Lobby. And Johnny would--Jesus Christ can someone please fucking put him down, God, at least close his fucking eyes!”

My uncle doesn’t get it. He’s never really appreciated museums and galleries and stuff. My girlfriend makes me go sometimes, and I learn stuff about art. So I can recognise what she’s done with Johnny--it’s quite literal, I mean, she painted on him, so he was a canvas and all that, but really, it’s that thing he’s got in his eyes. That exact look--that has got to be an artwork. I can’t imagine what she’s done to Johnny to make that. I don’t want to.

You know Treasure Island? The Black Spot--that’s what the skull is. I see it every single fucking time I close my eyes. I’m a marked man. I’m going to die.

I became obsessed with her. I’ve got newspaper clippings of her piled up at home. My girlfriend thought I was a groupie. My ex-girlfriend, I mean. She left me because she thought I was going crazy. I know she’s been waiting for me to pop the question but man, what’s the use of getting engaged to a dead man? So I let her go. Anyway, I had to know what she was doing, and where she was. I could breathe a little when she was spotted outside the city, but she came back. I prayed that she’d just go away, doesn’t her kind always end up in New York?

Breaking news: God doesn’t listen to sinners. What a hateful, vengeful God.

She’s different from Castle. She keeps it clean. Well, most of the time. You know the explosion three days ago? Police said it was some kind of gas leak but nah, man, nah. It was one of our factories, and we do do legit stuff there, intermediate processing of raw materials from China and stuff, but yeah, you guessed it, we’ve got associates there sending us more illegitimate raw materials to process among the legit ones. We found my uncle’s remains there. From whatever we could gather of him it seemed like she’d chained him up to the pillar nearest to the gas leak. I guess she did it old school style with him, y’know lighting a fuse or a trail of fuel from afar. Maybe she’d beaten him or tortured him before that, we can’t tell that from his body. But she’d made him watch death coming--she’d made him wait for it.

And that’s what’s she’s doing with me. That’s what she does with everyone. She doesn’t see the point in Castle’s brutality--and I agree with her. Spraying the floor with blood and brain matter and intestines, maybe that’s artistic to some people, if they’re fucking psychos. She’s taking it to the next level man. She lets you know she’s coming, she lets you know she’s coming no matter what. All these news of her strikes are free UPS deliveries for her targets, they’re her messages to them, to me, telling us she can do it, she _will_ get us. You can repent, you can, like in the Bible, you can be that tax dude who’d stolen money from the people and distribute it to the poor and homeless and shit, you can look for her and beg for her forgiveness and show to her you’ve begged for everyone else’s forgiveness, you can show her your mom and your wife and your baby and even your fucking parole officer and let them say good things about you and beg on your behalf, but no. She’s not human, man, you don’t appeal to her sympathy, you can’t. You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, you’re going to be punished.

We tried sending people to kill her. Some of them died pretty horribly (I hear she really likes claymores)--shows you that she’s got it in her after all. I guess if she’s taken by surprise, if she doesn’t have time to plan, she would dispense with the artsy stuff. Some of the got sent back as more messages. We sent pretty bad people I wouldn’t dare sharing a footpath with. Some East European mercs, some ex-Marines. I don’t know how she did it. She’s just supposed to be this little girl. Girls are supposed to be nice. If you tell me she’s some kind of fucking zombie or alien or something I’d believe you. She can’t be real. She and Castle, maybe they’ve made a deal with the devil or something.

She’s probably outside right now as I’m telling you this. I don’t know why I’m here, even if you put me in solitary in Supermax or even in fucking Gitmo I’m sure she’s still going to find me. I guess I just need someone to listen, someone who’s not a priest, ‘cuz God doesn’t care for me anyway why bother going to church. I’m the only one left of the family, by the way. You guys can take down all those names in the list now--you’ll find the bodies soon enough.

I didn’t tell you I was in track in school. I was pretty good too, I made it to the state finals. People say when I run no one’s gonna catch me. I put that to good use, and good profit. I really don’t want her to catch me. It’s my claim to fame, man, I want it on my tombstone. “They never did catch him.”

This is the only way I can escape her.

 

 

C. RICARDO BURST INTO THE LOBBY WITH OFFICER CARLYLE AS HOSTAGE AT APPROXIMATELY 1637 HOURS. RICARDO WAS NON-RESPONSIVE TO NEGOTIATION OFFERS. WHEN HE COCKED THE TRIGGER OFFICER CHANG SHOT HIM TWICE AT HIS BACK. HE WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD AT 1704 HOURS. 

INQUIRY CLOSED.


End file.
